


The Year Between

by chaineddove



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-05
Updated: 2012-03-05
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/353382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaineddove/pseuds/chaineddove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oka studies with Touya, avoids her almost-friend Shouji, falls in puppy love with Shindou, passes pro, and grows up a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Year Between

**Author's Note:**

> One-sided Oka/Shindou, implied Shindou/Touya and Shouji/Oka. Hilariously, this fic was born out of utter desperation about three days before deadline. Its genesis went something like this:
> 
> me: OH MY GOD I AM SO DOOMED WHAT DO I WRITE WHAT DO I WRITE WHAT DO I WRITE!?  
> stillskies: Write Yeong-ha.  
> me: Noooooooooo!  
> stillskies: How about Saeki and Ashiwara?  
> me: Noooooooooo!  
> stillskies: How about that fic you were going to write with lordlings?  
> me: Noooooooooo!  
> stillskies: Waya/Shigeko?  
> me: Noooooooooo! I'm dooooooooooooooooooomed!  
> stillskies: *clearly losing patience* Oka and Shouji, I don't know!  
> me: ...Ooh!  
> stillskies: THERE.  
> me: Okay, that could possibly work.
> 
> And so it went. In my headcanon (as evidenced by [Crossing Boundaries](http://archiveofourown.org/works/325476)) Oka and Shouji are Touya and Shindou's ~~house pets~~ students, and so I thought, ooh, what better object of a thirteen-year-old girl's first crush than a gay mentor figure?
> 
> YES, THAT WAS AS MUCH THINKING THROUGH AS I GAVE IT. IN RETROSPECT, IT IS PRETTY AMAZING THAT IT CAME OUT AS WELL AS IT DID.
> 
> Also, I feel like the end could have been fleshed out more, but I was tired, it was past the original deadline, and I was leaving for New Mexico to see Vienna Teng in the morning, so I left it be.

She was wearing a skirt, and it made her uncomfortable. Her mother had insisted on it – “You want to make a good impression, don’t you? He’s from such a good family after all! You need to look nice. You’re such a talented girl, I wish you wouldn’t go around trying to look like a boy…” – and although Oka had loudly protested that this wasn’t a _marriage interview_ , Mother, she had agreed to the skirt in the end. Now she stood at the gate of the sprawling Touya house feeling like an idiot, though she supposed the fluttery pink monstrosity was at least better than the frayed jeans she would have worn if left to her own devices. She doubted anyone wore frayed _anything_ to the Touya household. She didn’t think they would dare.

She took a deep breath and let it out in an audible whoosh in an attempt to calm her nerves. A cat napping in a patch of sunlight at the base of the wall raised its head to regard her. It didn’t look impressed. “I’m here for a lesson,” she told the cat crossly. “Don’t look at me like that.” Raising her chin, she opened the gate and stomped off into the garden – what she thought of as her ‘determined’ gait. The false bravado carried her up to the door and she rung the bell, her chin jutted forward.

“Coming!” came a voice from inside. She had spoken with Touya Akira only once – over the phone to arrange this meeting – but she didn’t think it was his voice. For one truly hair-raising moment she imagined the former Meijin opening the door for her and envisioned at least seven ways she could completely disgrace herself in forty seconds or less. Her hands unconsciously gripped her skirt and she was halfway over in a bow when the door opened.

Bent over as she was, she saw the bare feet first and nearly fell over when her mind tried to form the image of Touya Kouyo barefoot and wearing jeans. Frayed jeans, the kind she had only recently thought of as completely incongruous in an old-fashioned house like this one. They were torn on one of the knees, she saw when she righted herself and straightened. Above the jeans was a faded orange t-shirt with some sort of English words printed on it. At this point, she was fairly sure she had the wrong house. She was getting ready to apologize when she recognized him.

“Shindou Hikaru!” she said, then flushed scarlet and hurriedly added, “-san! Shindou- _san_!”

He gave her a polite smile. “Hey, you’re here for Touya, right?”

She nodded dumbly, scared of making another blunder. Honestly, what had she been thinking? It was all very well to call him by his name when discussing his latest kifu, but not to his _face_!

Shindou didn’t seem bothered. “Come on in. Sorry, Touya’s interview ran late. He said he tried calling you but you didn’t answer.”

“I… I turned my phone to silent,” she said. The heat in her face intensified, if that was even possible. “I thought I might forget and it would go off in the middle of the lesson, so I turned it off in advance and…”

“Hey, no big deal,” Shindou cut off with a shrug. “He should be here soon, anyway.” He stepped aside to let her enter and started rummaging for slippers as she stepped out of her shoes. “You’re taking the exam this summer, right? What’s your name?”

She stared at her feet, realizing he didn’t recognize her. Well, why should he? He probably wasn’t in the habit of memorizing every person he wiped the board with – there were bound to be a lot of them. “Oka Hanae,” she said, and tried not to wince. She hated her given name – she thought it was needlessly old-fashioned and feminine – and encouraged anyone who would listen to use her family name.

He made a noncommittal grunt and rooted deeper in the shoe cabinet. “I played you once,” she added inanely, realizing she really wished he _would_ recognize her.

He turned back to her, holding a small pair of slippers and looking perplexed. “Yeah?” he said and gave a sheepish laugh. “Oh man, I’m sorry, I’m terrible at that kind of thing. Touya’s constantly telling me that-”

“Touya’s constantly telling you what?” Oka whirled around at the sound of the new voice. Touya Akira came through the door and shut it behind himself. He was wearing an impeccably pressed suit and an irate expression. “I’m so sorry I’m late, Oka-san. Honestly, Shindou, you could have let her in!”

“I did!” Shindou protested. “I was trying to find her slippers – here you go – in case you’re interested. And by the way, I’m not your butler, so you could thank me for filling in.”

“It’s not like you went out of your way,” Touya said dismissively. “Do they fit, Oka-san?” Oka nodded dumbly again. “Wonderful. Please come in. Did you find your way with no problems?”

“Thank me for the map,” Shindou interjected before she could answer. “The first time he gave me directions here, I wandered in circles for at least an hour. After that, I made him upgrade to Google.”

“Go away,” Touya said with a mild glare. “Please excuse him, Oka-san. This way.” She followed him down a spacious hallway into a sparsely furnished room with a beautiful goban prominently displayed in the middle. “Please take a seat,” Touya instructed, so she did, smoothing her hands nervously over her skirt as she did so. “It’s quite warm out, isn’t it? Would you like a drink?”

“Oh,” Oka said, finding her voice at last. “I’m all right. That is, please don’t trouble yourself…”

“I’ll get them,” Shindou’s voice called down the hall. “There’s still iced tea.”

Touya nodded although there was no way Shindou could possibly see him, and turned his attention back to his student. “So, you are taking the pro exam this year?” he asked.

She nodded for what felt like the fiftieth time. “Yes, next month.”

“You’re in the Insei program. What is your rank?” he asked.

She looked down at her hands and answered honestly. “Third.” She had been second last year, and it still hadn’t helped her with the exam. Shouji, then third place, had easily outplayed her and edged her out.

“It isn’t a bad rank,” Touya said, as if reading her mind.

“Not that it means anything,” Shindou interjected again, coming back in with a tray. He was still barefoot, Oka noted as he knelt and set the tray down. “I mean, look at me.”

“You’re an outlier,” Touya retorted easily. “Thank you. Now go away.”

Shindou rolled his eyes. “He’s ungrateful,” he said to Oka with a conspiratorial grin, then stood and vanished out a different door than the one he had entered through with the tray. Oka felt her face heating up again. Later, she would find she didn’t remember a single move of the teaching game she played against Touya.

●○

Oka spent the next several days in a pleasant haze. She was playing well and feeling confident, the exams were approaching, and she had another lesson with Touya coming up on Wednesday. They were meeting in the Touya Go salon, and she recalled hearing that Shindou was a regular customer there.

She was so unusually cheerful that everyone noticed. “You seem happy,” commented Nase as Oka scooted to make room for her in the crowded McDonald’s booth. Although the older girl had passed the pro exam the year before, she still took the time to spend with her former Insei friends – unlike _some_ people who weren’t worth mentioning.

Oka flushed pink; she had been doing a lot of that lately. “I’ve been playing well,” she said by way of explanation. “I beat Fuku today.”

“You always beat me lately,” Fuku said with a good-natured smile.

“You’d better watch out,” Nase teased. “If you take that exam any more times, you’ll set a new record.”

Fuku shook his head. “Oh man, what am I going to do!?”

Oka laughed. “Well, I’m going to pass this time for sure,” she said.

“You’d better,” Nase said. “Shouji’s been talking my ear off, asking about you.”

“Yeah, right,” Oka said, her good mood suddenly taking a turn for the worse.

It had been several months since she had last seen Shouji, her once-rival-turned-pro. They had managed to become friends, sort of, but then he had had the bad taste to defeat her in the early stages of last year’s pro exam. He had scraped through in third place, and although she had won every single game after that one, she had still been unable to catch up. He had disappeared from the Insei study group and her life, and by the time he had remembered that he had once had an almost-friend named Oka Hanae, she had decided she would never forgive him.

She had come up against him with fierce determination in the first round of this year’s Wakajishisen and defeated him by three moku. He might have made an overture of some sort at that point, but then the boy who had passed first had come by and said, “Wow, you lost to a little girl _Insei_.”

Shouji had laughed self-consciously and she had gotten mad all over again when he said, “Yeah, well, not my best day, I guess.”

“Did it ever occur to either of you that maybe I can just play?” she had grumbled, looking down at the formations on the board, no longer pleased with her accomplishment.

“No?” Shouji had said, as though it was a question. She had turned around and stomped away as he shouted after her, “Wait, I mean yes! Or no! Oka!”

The memory still stung. “Let’s change the subject,” Oka said, taking a loud slurp of milkshake.

“The first round of the Tengen finals is next week,” Nase said immediately, willing to indulge her. “Want to go observe? It should be a really good game. Touya Akira’s defending for the first time.”

“Yeah!” Fuku replied, enthusiastic. “And I haven’t seen Shindou in forever! He’s always so busy.”

“Shindou?” Oka asked, trying to sound nonchalant, despite the fact that her heart had skipped a beat. “I forgot he was challenging for it.”

“That’s right, you’re in the Touya fanclub, aren’t you?” Nase asked with a laugh.

Oka blushed and said nothing.

○●

She wore a skirt again, not because she thought anyone was going to be taking notice, but… well. Just in case. She arrived early too – just in case. So intent was she on the fact that she might run into Shindou again after the game that she didn’t immediately recognize the person sitting near the monitor until he said, “Oh, Oka! I didn’t recognize you. You, um… look… nice.”

She blushed, immediately feeling awkward and irritated, as though he had called her out on something shameful. “What are you doing here?”

In his corner, Shouji looked taken aback. That expression rapidly became one of irritation. “Hey, I have just as much right to be here as you. More, since my teacher’s playing.”

“You study with Touya-sensei _too_?” she asked, feeling suddenly betrayed.

“What?” Shouji asked, looking confused. “Touya? No! I mean, he’s great and everything, but I study with Shindou.”

“Oh,” she replied in a tiny voice she barely recognized as her own. She stood there for a moment, awkwardly searching for something to say. She finally came up with: “You’re so disrespectful. You should call him Sensei.”

Shouji snorted and shook his head. “Oh please. Shindou doesn’t let anyone call him Sensei.”

“Oh,” Oka said again. Fortunately, before the silence could become too awkward, Nase and Fuku appeared, followed by several adults she knew only from photographs and glimpses at the Institute. Oka let herself be hustled to a table in the back by her friends, ignoring Shouji, who was staring after them forlornly.

“I wonder if they’ll fight today?” asked a man in a gray tie, looking speculatively at the monitor screen, which was currently showing an empty board.

“Oh, probably,” replied another, pulling one of the goke towards himself. “They’re due.”

Oka looked their way, wondering. “Hey Nase, you were an Insei with Shindou-san, right?” she asked in a hushed voice. Nase nodded. “He and Touya-sensei… aren’t they friends?”

Nase smothered a giggle with her hand. The man in the tie looked her way and she made an apologetic shrug. “Not exactly,” she said. “They’re Shindou and Touya.”

“Oh,” Oka said, not understanding at all. Everyone knew about Shindou and Touya’s famous rivalry, of course. But her definition of rivalry had never included serving iced tea to her opponent’s student a week before finals. Barefoot. She had assumed friendship, but if they were going to fight… “So they’re not friends?”

“They’re _rivals_ ,” Fuku said in an exaggerated stage whisper.

Oka looked over at Shouji, who was still watching her. She tried to imagine him hanging out in her kitchen, pouring iced tea, ignoring the fact that they were about to face off in a game that could decide their fates. The mental image made her uncomfortable. “Are all rivals… like that?” she asked.

“Maybe not all of them. Shindou and Touya are,” Nase said, as though that explained everything.

“Oh. Okay,” Oka said, still confused. Before she could press Nase for more information on Shindou, however, the monitor showed the players entering the room, looking intense, and she was too busy watching to say anything else.

●○

“Oh man, we’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

Blushing was becoming Oka’s permanent state, at least as far as Shindou was concerned. “Yeah. I mean, no! I don’t mind!”

Shindou laughed. “Is your phone off again?”

She bowed hurriedly, trying not to grin like an idiot. She loved it when he answered the door. “I’m sorry, I could come back later!”

“No, it’s fine,” Shindou said. “Come in. We’re just running a little late.”

“I don’t mind,” she told him honestly. “If you’re sure it’s all right.” She stepped into the entrance hall and began searching for the slippers Touya kept for her.

“Yeah,” Shindou said, joining in the search. He found them first and handed them over. “It’s all right. Sorry, blame your teacher. I found out that he hasn’t eaten all day – again – and I was just about to call out for some dinner. I swear, if someone didn’t remind that idiot to eat once in awhile-”

“There’s really no need to share the details of my personal life with my students, Shindou.”

Shindou rolled his eyes dramatically. “Well geez, if you’d maybe remember to take care of yourself-”

“I’m sorry, Oka-san,” Touya said, cutting Shindou off. “We’ll make this quick.”

“Yeah,” Shindou agreed. “Let me just call the ramen place-”

“No ramen,” Touya said with a thunderous look. “If I’m going to be forced into delaying my lessons for food, I’d like something with at least minimal nutritional value.”

“What are you talking about?” Shindou said. “You could totally survive on ramen and live to be a hundred and ten! Ramen’s the only thing you need.”

“No,” Touya said. “And before you offer, no, you may not cook. Instant ramen is out of the question, Shindou, and the last time you tried something more ambitious, you nearly burned down my house.”

“Oh please,” Shindou said. “There wasn’t even a fire. You’re getting all bent out of shape just because of a little smoke?”

“Um,” said Oka, fidgeting, “I could make something. If you’d like. I mean, I’m not very good, but I could-”

“Great!” Shindou said before Touya could protest. “It’s so convenient to have a girl around sometimes!”

‘Convenient’ wasn’t much of a compliment, but Oka beamed anyway. “Let me show you the kitchen,” Shindou said, and bustled her down the hall. “Sorry,” he said in a low voice when Touya was out of earshot. “He’s an idiot about this stuff. I swear, he’d be passing out in league matches if someone didn’t make sure he ate once in awhile.”

“You’re a very caring friend, Shindou-san,” Oka said softly, trying not to trip over her own feet even though Shindou’s hand was on her shoulder. “Or rival,” she added.

Shindou laughed. “Something like that,” he said, but didn’t clarify.

Fortunately, the refrigerator wasn’t particularly well-stocked. Oka was relieved – at the very least, she knew she could manage onigiri, and no one would be expecting her try her hand at something more complex. Her desire to emulate Shindou didn’t extend to burning down the Touya house, and she wasn’t sure she could manage much under this kind of pressure. A game was one thing, but she would be cooking! For Shindou! Like his girlfriend, or…

“You okay?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Flustered, she opened the rice cooker, which was luckily two-thirds full. “Just give me a few minutes, I’ll…”

“Hey, no prob,” Shindou said with an easygoing shrug. “We’re kind of imposing, anyway.”

“I’m glad to do it,” she was quick to assure him as she located the nori.

“Touya sure has diligent pupils,” Shindou remarked. “Wish mine made me dinner.”

“I’ve made you cup ramen,” pointed out a new voice. Oka dropped the scoop along with a heaping serving of rice, which hit the floor with a splatter.

“What are _you_ doing here?” she demanded shrilly.

Shindou didn’t look at all startled. “Oh, you guys know each other? I guess that makes sense.”

Shouji leaned nonchalantly against a wall. “I’m here for a lesson, same as you. Unless you’re moonlighting as a maid, but hey, whatever floats your boat.”

“I thought you said you were Shindou-san’s student!” Oka exclaimed.

Shouji looked at her smugly. “Well duh, I am,” he said. “I mean, here he is, right?” He pointed to Shindou – as though Oka could miss him! – then came into the kitchen, carefully sidestepping the mess on the floor.

“Do you _live_ here?” Oka blurted out before she could stop herself. Her hand shot up to cover her mouth and she turned scarlet.

Shindou, as always, seemed oblivious to her humiliation. “Not really,” he answered as Touya entered the kitchen and said, “Yes, sadly.”

“My apartment complex flooded during the rainstorm last week,” Shindou explained. “I’m only staying until they pump it out.”

Touya went for the broom. Oka rushed to help him and nearly lost her balance when she slipped on the rice. Shouji snickered. “I’ll believe that only when I see you leaving,” Touya grumbled. “I can’t believe you’re using my student as a maid, Shindou!”

“She’s a pretty crappy maid, considering the mess she just made,” Shouji pointed out.

Oka turned and gave him her best death glare. “I don’t mind,” she said, steel in her voice. She yanked the broom out of Touya’s hands with more force than was strictly necessary.

“See, she doesn’t mind!” Shindou said. “Besides, you forbade me to cook; what were we supposed to do, starve like you?”

“Shindou!”

“Nice to know,” Shouji said, ignoring the argument. “Make sure you make a lot. I have a big appetite.”

Oka barely kept herself from throwing the broom at him.

○●

It was well past dark by the time they finished with lessons, especially considering the fact that Shindou had insisted his student take care of the dishes. Upon Touya’s insistence, Shouji had then been volunteered to walk her to the bus stop. She hadn’t seen any point in arguing – especially since Shindou had endorsed the idea – but she didn’t have to be happy about it, either. She had nothing whatsoever to say to him, and she thought she had made that fact perfectly clear.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t accounted for the fact that Shouji was denser than a brick. “So,” he said, clearly interpreting her silence as a desire for conversation, “do you like… _like_ Shindou or something?”

She had become so accustomed to blushing lately that she hardly noticed it anymore. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Shouji gave her an incredulous sideways look. “Oh, come on. What, you think I’m stupid or something? You were practically hanging off his every word at dinner!”

“Yes,” Oka said shortly.

“Ha!” Shouji exclaimed. “Yes, you _like_ like him?”

“No,” she said through gritted teeth. “Yes, as in yes, I think you’re stupid.”

“Hey, come on!” he protested.

“And what does it matter, anyway?” she demanded suddenly. “What if I did like him? Why do you care?”

Shouji looked taken aback as he considered this question. “Well,” he said, “I mean, that’d just be _weird_.”

“How would it be weird?” she glared. “What, I’m not allowed to like someone now?”

“No!” he said quickly. “No, I didn’t mean that! I mean… he’s, you know, Shindou.”

Oka sighed. “So what? He’s not likeable?”

“He eats ramen for breakfast!”

“So?”

“And lunch! And dinner!”

“So?”

“ _Instant ramen_.”

Oka threw up her hands, defeated by his logic. “ _So_?”

“And he’s a slob! He sleeps in past noon and forgets his scheduled lessons!” Shouji was getting more agitated with every word, gesticulating wildly with his hands. “His socks never match!”

“I don’t want to be his _maid_ ,” Oka said grumpily.

“Yeah, well, judging by today-”

“Why are you so upset, anyway?” she interrupted. “It’s none of your business!”

“I just don’t get why you like him!” he exclaimed.

“He’s good at Go,” she said promptly. “And he has a nice smile.” She felt her cheeks burning.

“And anyway, he’s got Touya!” Shouji shouted, looking like he was nearing the end of his rope.

She had to blink at that one. “So?” she asked. “I don’t want to be his rival. At least not yet. I mean, the level is just-”

“You just don’t _get_ it,” Shouji said with a grimace.

“No, _you_ don’t get it,” Oka disagreed. She stopped and crossed her arms – they had reached the bus stop during the course of their argument. “And anyway, I’m not talking to you, especially about this. Why don’t you just shut up until the bus comes.”

Shouji looked sullen but didn’t say another word. The bus came, and Oka was halfway up the steps when he called her name again. “What now?” she demanded testily.

“I’m, uh,” he said, looking down at his feet. She couldn’t see his face, but his posture was equal parts miserable and uncomfortable. “I’m pretty good at Go.”

She felt her face heating up again and turned around before he could see it. “Good night, Shouji,” she said very firmly. The door closed behind her.

●○

The pro exam came upon her suddenly while she was still trying to sort her feelings out. Despite the fact that she felt utterly unprepared for it, she did remarkably well in the early rounds. She made it halfway before she lost a game – a particularly daring invasion didn’t pay off, and she watched her defense crumbling with a strange sense of unconcern. She came away feeling that although it had probably been a needless risk, she had at least tried something original.

She was halfway home when her phone rang. The number seemed familiar but it wasn’t immediately recognizable. “Hello?”

“What _was_ that?” demanded the phone.

“Huh?” she asked, completely baffled.

“What _was_ that?” the phone repeated. “What, was it Commit Suicide on a Whim Day, or something?”

“Why are you calling me?” Oka demanded. “I erased your number and I haven’t heard from you in a year and now you’re suddenly calling me to tell me my game was off? You weren’t even there, mister high and mighty pro! Are you spying on me now?”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. “Listen, I know it’s tempting to emulate Shindou, but _you’re not Shindou_. It’s your problem if you like him or whatever, but you need to play _your_ Go, not someone else’s!”

“Go to hell,” she said simply, and hung up the phone.

She walked for awhile, considering calling Touya. She doubted he would have approved of her overreaching – he was always stressing to her the need to defend before attacking – but he might have been able to give her some advice, at least. Unfortunately, however well she had begun getting along with her teacher, she knew very well he was preparing for another Tengen match and preferred not to be disturbed. She briefly considered calling Shindou before realizing that she didn’t have his number.

Feeling much worse than she had when she had lost her game, she trudged home.

○●

It was the first day of the third Tengen title match, and the skirt had become practically second nature at this point, as had ignoring Shouji, who sat in his corner looking sullen. She bowed politely to the others assembled – no other Insei were present – and settled in to watch the game.

She forgot about Shouji and her own barely-passing record almost immediately. The game was intense, even more so than a regular match between Shindou and Touya, of which she had seen many, both in kifu and in life. She was nearly breathless when the time was called, although it had been many hours and one of her feet was tingling in an alarming way.

The players on the monitor seemed to share her breathlessness. After sealing his move, Shindou sat staring at the board for a few moments, his eyes shining. Then he stood and stretched, then walked over to Touya’s side of the board to examine the stone positions from that angle. Touya looked up at him with a faint smile and Shindou grinned back as though they hadn’t just been trying to tear each other’s metaphorical throats out on the goban.

Maybe it was the distance provided by the monitor, but suddenly she understood.

When she surged out of her seat, her chair went clattering to the floor. Her foot was asleep and she nearly lost her balance, but she hobbled out of the room, knowing that if she didn’t get out right that second, everyone would see her cry. With the sort of determination that carried her through a tough game, she limped down the hall and into the stairwell.

Shouji found her there, huddled against a wall, and stood over her, just looking and saying nothing.

“Don’t say it,” she said between sniffles.

He crouched next to her and said it anyway. “You’re kind of slow, aren’t you?”

She hiccupped. “Go away,” she told him.

“No, thanks,” he said. “I’ll stay, if it’s all the same to you.”

●○●○

“Guess you’re up against me in a few weeks,” Shindou said, grinning across the table at her. “Scared?”

“Not even,” she retorted with an ease that belied the fact that she had fought desperately over the last few months to achieve it.

“She’s going to pulverize you,” Shouji said smugly. “It’s going to be really embarrassing.”

“You’re the most disrespectful student I have, you know that?” Shindou said.

“He’s the _only_ student you have,” Touya said mildly. “The rest couldn’t stand the constant tardiness. And possibly the ramen.”

“I’m a titleholder now,” Shindou said proudly. “Just wait, they’ll come flocking any minute now.”

“In your dreams, maybe,” Shouji scoffed.

“Please don’t tell me you _really_ think you’ll be keeping that title next year?” Touya inquired. He took a sip of his tea. “I’ll be taking it back, you know.”

Oka grinned.

She had passed the pro exam, finishing with a strong streak that landed her in a solid second place after the front runners had crumbled under the pressure. Now they were celebrating – and she was already thinking about her Shinshoudan match. Shindou had volunteered for it; whether this was because someone had given him the idea or just because he wanted to flash his newly acquired title around like a shiny toy, Oka wasn’t sure. Regardless, she was preparing for a tough game.

Shouji poked her arm. “Hey,” he said, “don’t tell me this is the only bento you made.”

She rolled her eyes. “Glutton,” she told him, then headed back into the house for seconds.


End file.
